Comments follow increasing concern among U.S. and EU representatives after jump in nationalistic rhetoric
TIRANA, March 3 – Calming international fears over Albanian nationalism was the main theme of a visit to Tirana this week by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. He and his Albanian counterpart, Sali Berisha, joined efforts to calm the EU and the international community that there is no plan for the unification of the two countries.
There has been increasing concern among representatives of the international community, especially the United States, after the nationalistic rhetoric by Berisha, who has referred to territories with ethnic Albanians in the neighboring countries as “Albanian lands” and is seeking to offer Albanian citizenship to all ethnic Albanians in the region.
These concerns were also the main topic during the visit of German Foreign Minister and a senior U.S. official in Tirana late last month.
The international community has made it clear they do not like rhetoric of this type, saying that attempts to inflame ethnic tensions could potentially destabilize the Balkans.
A union between Albania and Kosovo is sought by nationalism movements in both countries. Red and Black Alliance party leader Kreshnik Spahiu has said the countries should join in a federation and the alliance has officially submitted a petition requesting the election authorities hold a referendum on uniting Albania with neighboring Kosovo, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian.
Then in November last year when the country was celebrating the 100th anniversary of independence Berisha angered neighbors with talk of “Albanian lands,” including parts of Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. Tirana later said his comments, made ahead of Albania’s 100th anniversary celebrations, had a purely historical context.
Berisha also promised citizenship for ethnic Albanians worldwide נan offer he later retracted.
The international community has said it openly that such words said likely to attract voters for the June parliamentary elections only talk of an “illusory Greater Albania.”
Berisha made reassurances during Thaci’s visit that Albania cannot offer citizenship to Kosovo Albanians who at the same time are negotiating with Brussels on a visa free regime with most of the European Union which Albania already enjoys. He also added that offer could not be implemented without negotiating with Prishtina too. Both Berisha and Thaci assured that they did not intend the change the borders.
“Albania is totally committed, and in the interest of the Albanian nation, in preserving, the respect of the existing borders in the western Balkans,” said Berisha.
Thaci added, “The only alternative for us is the European integration and NATO. We shall be united in the big European family, in a territorial space of the European model.”
Berisha said Albania has always been committed for the respect of the existing borders in the Balkans and more.
But he tried to sideline the idea saying or insisting that the other countries should pay the proper respects and assure the rights for the ethnic Albanians living there. Albanians in southern Serbia and Macedonia currently say their rights are not fully respected.
